Whitney's Death Is Josh Hamilton's Lesson or Something Like That

It was two weeks ago that Josh Hamilton was spotted in a Dallas area bar. This was news because of course Josh Hamilton is a recovering addict. Actually the story barely made a blip on the radar because Hamilton was spotted during Super Bowl week and the media was more concerned whether or not Peyton Manning could bend his neck to eat a salad or something like that.

Just last week Whitney Houston died from a drug overdose. Well here comes the terrible column's comparing Whitney's death to Josh Hamilton. First let's start with this terrible Forbes.com column:

"Of course, Ms. Houston’s demise comes just weeks after Texas Rangers All-Star outfielder Josh Hamilton fell off the wagon for the 2nd time since returning to Major League Baseball after fighting his own substance abuse issues that drove him away from the game.

Days after Mr. Hamilton’s relapse, the Rangers hired Shayne Kelley to essentially play watchdog to ensure that Mr. Hamilton will stay clean going forward.

Perhaps, Mr. Kelley, you should have Mr. Hamilton sit down and read all about the rise and fall of Ms. Houston.  Have him YouTube some of her best performances when she was at the height of her career, and then look-up photos and videos of her during her troubled times."

Yes let's treat Hamilton like a 17-year old kid who got caught drinking a beer for the very first time. What next? Showing Hamilton a video of "Red Asphalt"? Hamilton getting caught at a bar was a cry for help. Drug addicts don't go out in public to fulfill their needs like Hamilton did. But go on and show Hamilton videos of Whitney Houston.

This column didn't stop the idiocy. Jennifer Floyd Engel of Foxsports.com wrote a very similar column to the Forbes.com column:

"As Hamilton himself pointed out, it is a short distance from drunken screw-ups to much, much worse. What he needed in that bar that night was somebody to say, "I'm not going to let you do this to yourself," not a bodyguard blocking the door as he did it to himself. What he needs now is what he asked for in his press conferences — prayers.

It is the irony, of course, that was on full display at the Grammy Awards on Sunday, which came a day after Whitney's death. We usually wait until after a person is gone to say a prayer, or realize how serious the problem was, or wish we had done something besides gawk at the train wreck.

And that is part of the tragedy of the death of Whitney, and the lesson."

The problem here is that addicts will never get help until they help themselves. You can beg and plead and offer to pay for rehab, but unless a addict wants to change then they're never going to change. You can take a lesson from Whitney and offer Josh Hamilton help, but he has to want to change his lifestyle. Maybe the death of Whitney Houston will scare Josh Hamilton, but he has got to change by himself.

And that ends the horrible columns portion of the lesson today kids.